


Find Him, Promise Me

by geckointhegarbage



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Complete, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 23:02:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11793306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geckointhegarbage/pseuds/geckointhegarbage
Summary: Keith and Matt are on a mission to find Shiro, but encounter difficulties that change them, and their goal. COMPLETED STORY





	Find Him, Promise Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first piece of fanfiction!! Not the best, but still ok. It's also available on Wattpad, under the same story name and under the username @snowdoglover1

"Lance, you and Allura go left. Hunk, Pidge, take the right. And I'll head straight," Keith commanded. The team had just breached Zarkon's ship, on a rescue mission to find Shiro.

"Uh, what about me?" Matt said. "I'm coming too. Shiro was my boyfriend. I am going to find him!"

"And Keith, I am coming with you too! Can't let you do something stupid," says Lance, with a wink. Keith sighs. He wanted to bring Lance with him, but he knew he couldn't. He was sending the rest of them on a decoy mission. He already knew where Shiro was, he just didn't want to bring the others with him. They couldn't see him like that. Keith already knew he would have to bring Matt with him. Matt was dating Shiro after all, and he had the right to come with him.

"Fine. Matt, come with me. Lance, you stay with Allura. We all have a mission. Now, go!" Everyone took off in their designated direction, all looking for the same person: Shiro. Up until last week, when they found Matt, everyone thought they had Shiro back, that they could be a family again. It wasn't until Matt came back that he realized, that wasn't the guy he spent 7 months in a spaceship with. He was different. He didn't act the same. The others were devastated. How could they have not known that this wasn't him? That this wasn't their Shiro? The boy who was with them didn't know he was a clone. He broke down. Coran had been spending the week with him, trying to get him to eat, sleep, do anything. Nothing seemed to work.

Everyone knew now that their mission wasn't just to save Shiro, but to save Ryou, the clone, as well.

"Head left," Keith shouted over his shoulder at Matt, after they hit a wall. Matt hesitated.

"Why not right?" Matt questioned. Keith knew he would have to tell Matt that he found Shiro already.

"Just trust me. I'll explain along the way," Keith said. They ran down the corridor. "I already know where Shiro is. I just didn't want the rest of the team to know, otherwise they wouldn't let me extract him." Keith panted. They were almost at the end of this corridor.

"How did you find out?" Matt asked.

Keith hesitated. Could he trust Matt with this information?  _Yes,_ he thought.  _I have to tell someone._ He took a deep breath. "I talked to Ryou earlier. He told me he knew subconsciously where he was. I don't know whether it is a trap or not, but it's the only lead on where Shiro could be."

"You got Ryou to talk? How?" Matt kept coming at Keith with questions, but he had to keep answering them.  _He deserves to know._

"I t- I told him about Shiro. About everything. I told him stories, about the Garrison, about our time in space...about you," Matt smiled. This was the first time he had smiled, since he was reunited with Pidge. Keith smiled back. "Head right," he said, his face hardening again, as they set down this corridor. "There is going to be a door here. Keep an eye out for it, it blends into the wall."

"On it," Matt said, and the two took separate sides of the corridor, touching the walls, seeing if they could feel any indents or any sign that a door was there.

"Here!" Matt exclaimed, as his hand passed over the faint outline of a door in the wall. Keith came over, and verified that it was the door they were looking for.

"Get ready," Keith said, as he drew a circle in the middle with his finger, then drew an "X" across the middle. He pushed in the symbol with his palm, just as Ryou instructed him to. The door opened to reveal...

… “Shiro?”

 

Shiro stood in front of them. The rest of the room was dark, only lit slightly by the opening in which Matt and Keith stood. He was in his normal clothing, and he looked just as he did before the battle with Zarkon. 

 

“Shiro!” Matt cried. He went to throw his arms around him. Shiro let Matt hug him, but looked confused. Keith looked at him suspiciously. This was just too easy. And why isn’t he talking? 

 

“Shiro?” Keith said cautiously. “It’s us. We are here to rescue you.” 

 

Shiro was surprised. “Who..who are you? And why is this guy hugging me?” He gestured down at Matt, who didn’t look like he was letting go anytime soon. 

 

_ No,  _ Keith thought. He had to remember.  _ He had to.  _

“It’s us. I’m Keith, your..friend. And that’s Matt, your boyfriend.” Keith’s voice cracked. 

 

Shiro laughed, and pushed Matt off of him. Matt was startled. He was certain this was Shiro. He looked the same, felt the same. This was his Shiro. Then why was he acting so strange? 

 

“How could  _ you  _ be my boyfriend? I don’t love you,” he snarled. Matt fell to his knees. “And  _ you, _ ” Shiro pointed at Keith. “Why would I love a pathetic drop-out? Hmm?” He laughed.

 

“No..no..not again,” Matt curled up into a ball. Keith charged, readying his sword. Shiro stood still. He made no effort to dodge Keith’s blade. But yet… Keith couldn’t bring himself to hurt “Shiro”. Clearly this was another clone, or a hologram, and Keith knew he would have to kill him if he wanted to get to the real Shiro. But he couldn’t bring himself to it. 

 

Suddenly, “Shiro” froze, as if someone pressed a pause button. The door that lead them in close, and they were left in complete darkness, except for the light in Keith’s armor. 

 

“Looks like you found him. But can you kill him?” Lotor’s voice echoed around them. From what Keith could tell, they were in a huge room. Lights suddenly turned on around them. Matt had gotten up, and had his staff ready. “Shiro” was still frozen. The room around them was made of metal, and it was if they were in a large box. They couldn’t see the ceiling. Small vents lined the bottom so they could breathe. 

 

“That is a clone, a failed experiment. He is Subject YX0223. He can’t love, which is why we scrapped him.” Lotor’s voice continued to echo around them, but neither of them could identify the source of his voice. Where Subject YX0223 was standing, a platform dropped down, and pulled him under the floor. The hatch closed quickly, before either of them could intercept it. 

 

Then, all around them, were screams. It was Shiro’s voice, his screams. Keith and Matt were horrified.  _ What were they doing to him?  _

 

“I can see that you’re curious about the screams. Yes, that is Shiro’s voice, but it isn’t him. We are currently in the process of… ‘renewing’ Subject YX0223. A shame really. He would have made an excellent comedian. But, alas, we don’t have the space.” Lotor laughed, a loud, booming laugh, that filled the space. Both Keith and Matt were crying now, begging for it to stop. Lotor ignored them. 

 

The walls on either side of them began to open, and hundreds of Shiros came stumbling out. Each looked exactly like their Shiro. 

Keith and Matt looked around, trying to find the real Shiro. They couldn’t tell who was the real Shiro. 

 

“Looking for the real one, eh? Well, you are going to have to find him yourself. And do it quickly! I don’t have enough space for all of them. Most will end up like Subject YX0223. Have fun,” Lotor’s voice cut off there, only leaving it’s echoes behind. Then, each Shiro saw them, and began running towards them. 

 

A chorus of, “Keith, Matt, it’s me!” began to ring around them, until the words blurred together and neither could tell which Shiro was speaking anymore. Keith got angry. He didn’t have time for this. He needed to find Shiro now. He closed his eyes, and began to slash in an arc around both him and Matt. Matt had been frozen this whole time. This was too much for him. 

 

Keith began to realize what he was doing. He opened his eyes, and saw Shiro, at least 10 of them on the floor, each crying out in pain at the wound inflicted on their stomachs, necks, and faces. At least 6 of them were in large pools of blood, still. 

 

“No…,”whispered Keith. He didn’t think this through. He could’ve just killed Shiro, or hurt him. Lance was right. He needed him, before he pulled a stupid stunt like this. Matt unfroze. He began to go around to each injured Shiro, trying to figure out if this was really him or not. Each time, each Shiro had a prominent flaw. One didn’t have sympathy. Another seemed to have anxiety. Matt dragged Keith along with him as he analyzed them. They both realized what they had to do. After Matt concluded that one wasn’t Shiro, Keith had to bring up his sword, and kill him. One by one they made their way through the crowd. It was silent now. Each Shiro accepted his fate. 

 

It seemed to take forever until they found him. He was in a corner, sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs, his head tucked in.

 

“Hey,” Matt said, as gently as possible. “Are you my boyfriend?” The words tasted stale in his mouth. He had already said them almost a hundred times before. 

 

Shiro moved his head up to look at Matt. His eyes were unfocused for a second, then he realized who he was looking at. 

 

“Matt,” he whispered as he put his hand up to hold Matt’s. Almost every Shiro they had encountered had done the same thing, so Matt wasn’t surprised. He thought this was another clone. Then Shiro surprised him. 

\---

“Do.. do you remember our handshake?” Shiro asked Matt. Matt looked surprised. None of the other Shiro’s remembered, or even brought it up. Matt gave him a soft smile. 

 

“Yes,” he said softly. Shiro smiled, and held out his left palm. They both began to do the handshake, while Keith stood and watched.  _ This could really be him. We could really have our Shiro back.  _ It took all of Keith’s willpower not to go and tackle him in a hug right then and there. After all, he could still be a clone. 

 

After the handshake was complete (after Keith threw some fake glitter), Shiro stood up. This was when both of them realized. His back was entirely exposed. And they didn’t see skin. His back was android, clearly. Silver metal and red dots and indicators lined his entire back. 

 

Shiro looked at them, confused. Wasn’t he the one they had been looking for? 

 

Matt backed away, horrified. He was sure this was his Shiro. He turned to Keith, who sighed, and got his sword ready. There was still a lot of dried blood on the blade. Shiro saw it coming.

 

“No!” he screamed, and dodged the blade as Keith brought it down on him. “It’s me, Shiro! I swear!” Matt got out his staff now, and swung it at him. The electric shock from the tip of it gave Keith enough time to stab Shiro. He gave out a final scream, then died. 

 

Matt and Keith stared at him on the ground for a few seconds, then turned and began to walk back into the fray of Shiros. They still had so many to go. 

 

\---

 

It took them hours. 3 hours to be exact. They made their way through the crowd. Each Shiro was less promising than the last. It pained both of them to kill them, but this was what they had to do. As they made their way to the final five, the worry finally set in. What if they had already killed the real Shiro? What if he wasn’t even here?

 

Lotor had watched the entire thing from a one sided panel in the box. He knew they would never find the real Shiro… because he was up here with him. 

 

\---

 

Lotor kept Shiro up there with him, so he knew when to send him in. Shiro was tied to a chair, his robotic arm deactivated. He watched the entire thing, as they went Shiro to Shiro, asking questions.. And killing them off. He screamed and called out to them, but they couldn’t hear him. Then they got down to the final five. 

 

“Matt, let’s move from left to right. One of them is the real Shiro, I promise you,” Keith said. He lied about the last part, about one of them being Shiro. He didn’t think the real Shiro would be here, but he had to do something to help Matt. He was on the cliff’s edge. Keith was a wreck, but Matt needed comforting more than he did. He had known him longer, and was his rock. But Shiro had to be here.  _ He had to.  _

 

They began to question again, beginning with the same phrase, and ending the same way, a sword through the neck. 

 

They got down to the last Shiro, who seemed pretty promising. He was smiling and laughing with both of them. He knew the handshake. He remembered Keith, and kissed Matt. Both of them felt it was him. 

 

_ BANG!  _ A loud noise came from the wall at their back.  _ BANG!  _ There it was again. Finally, the wall gave in, and the yellow lion’s head was visible. 

 

“Hey guys, need a- what happened here,” Hunk’s voice said. The lion’s mouth opened, and the rest of the team poured out. Lance, Hunk, Allura, and finally Pidge. Keith got up and went to the others, and began to explain. How Lotor set them up. How they had to kill Shiro. He told them about everything. 

 

Lance was the first to move. He went to Keith and hugged him tight. The others soon followed. Matt stayed behind on the floor with “Shiro”. Then slowly, they made their way to “Shiro”, trying their best to ignore the bodies and avoid the blood. The carnage was everywhere, and impossible to avoid. 

 

They all kneeled in front of “Shiro”, and began to ask him questions. Lance asked about where they saved him from. Hunk asked about whether he could cook or not. They continued in a circle, one by one, each asking him a single question. He answered each of them perfectly, without hesitation or thought. They really thought they had Shiro back. They could finally be a family again. 

 

Lotor was still watching from his box. No one knew he was there. The box was made invisible by radar scans, so he was undetectable by the lions. Shiro was too. He had finally broke. He called out louder this time, until he finally gave in. Shiro was broken. He realized that this clone was a perfect copy, even more perfect than Ryou. They would take him back, and never know that their Shiro was still here, in a cell, rotting. Lotor thought his plan was flawless. They found the one clone with no flaws. 

 

But everything has a flaw. Nothing is perfect. The one thing Lotor didn’t noticed when he sent in the “perfect clone” was his single flaw. It was tiny, miniscule, but still there. 

 

It was that this clone knew where his loyalties lie. 

\---

Everyone was in tears. Hugs and kisses were being passed around. They all had the same thought,  _ We are a family again.  _

 

That was the last happy thought the clone had. Everyone had disbanded from their huge group hug, and were heading back into the yellow lion, Hunk in the lead, “Shiro” in the back. He insisted of being there. The others didn’t care. They were so overjoyed they didn’t realize the arrow until it had lodged itself in “Shiro’s” heart. 

\---

 

“No!” Keith screamed. He was right in front of “Shiro” when it happened. He turned back and reached him before the others did. “No…,” he whispered again. “Shiro..”

 

“Hey,” whispered “Shiro”. He was lying on the floor, with the team around him. Everyone was crying, but Matt was crying the most. It is extremely difficult to explain how Matt felt during this time, but the most accurate word would be  _ shattered.  _ Matt Holt had  _ shattered  _ like a teacup hitting the floor. 

 

“I loved exploring space with you,” “Shiro” whispered. “And I loved the Garrison with you, Matt. I loved getting cooking lessons from Hunk, and failing miserably. I loved learning how the internet worked with Pidge. Follow me it’s @spacedad.” At that, everyone gave a small laugh before the tears returned. “I loved watching movies with Lance, and pulling pranks with Allura.” 

 

“But most of all, I loved getting my own family. My own memories.” 

At this, everyone was surprised. What does he mean his own memories? He had memories before this. What could he be talking about? 

 

“Look, I never had a life. Everything, everyone belongs to someone else. But..,” he faltered. His pulse slowed quickly. He was dying. 

 

      “From what I know, this life was amazing. There were so many people that I loved, and so many memories I never want to lose. Thank you for this, for giving me the chance to see this, and I know I would want to tell you to never give up. Stay strong.” 

 

         What he said confused everyone. What does he mean, “from what I know”? This is his life, shouldn’t he be able to tell? 

 

          They couldn’t linger on that thought for long however, as Shiro weakly held out his hand to Matt, who took it. Shiro looked him dead in the eye and said, “Find him. Promise me.” As the light faded from his eyes, Matt whispered, just loud enough for Shiro to hear, “I promise, Kuro.” 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
